User defined Variable name

Hi,

i'm trying to learn C programming in order to complete a small project, but am getting a bit stuck with an issue.....

i need to take user input and then assign an integer value to the input.

is it possible to generate variable names as a program runs - or do they have to be generated prior to compiling?

would it be possible to achieve this using pointers instead.

Thanks

You can't create real variables at runtime.

You could use a [hash]map, though.

In C++ it might look like this:

Code:

---

map<string, int> var_map;
string name;
int value;
cin >> name >> value;
var_map[name] = value;

---

In C you'd probably have to code the map yourself, unless you can find a library for that.

Or not a map,

Code:

---

struct record
{
    char name[32];
    int value;
};

/* ... */
struct record variables[32] = {{"", 0}};

---

Granted it's slower. If you need more speed, look into a hashtable.

And no, you do not need to "create" the variables at runtime in your case...

Code:

---

int input = 0;
char line[256] = {0};

fgets(line, sizeof(line), stdin);
sscanf(line, "%d", input);

---

thanks - looks like just what i was after

Ta

Why do you care what the name of the variable is at runtime? The compiler doesn't keep the name anyways; it just converts it to an address.